So last night I braved the heavy rain and battering 90mph winds that nearly swept me off of my feet to got to a pretty special fundraising gig for Shelter in St Thomas Martyrs church which is just opposite the Fleece. Sitting in a freezing cold church isn’t most people’s idea of a good night out, I so rarely ever venture into the buildings largely because of my slightly anti religious sentiments I sometimes have, but one off events like last night do draw me into these beautiful buildings.

Last night was Light Up The Night an event where the artists and musicians mostly played in the dark with the audience being asked to provide most of the light, bringing torches and headlamps to watch a varying array of local talent from the lofi anti Folk through too ambient experimental sounds making use of the spaces natural acoustics and the ornate back drop creating a beautiful setting.

Headlining the night was electro folk bleeptronica artist Jilk. As a live act Jilk can come in many varying formats and can be completely different every time they play live, sometimes the consequences can be a little mixed kind of hit and miss, but when they get things right then Jilk can be utterly mesmerising.

Last night Jilk very much hit things bang on the head, Mixing up his usual contributors of Drummer Paul Macmahon, Violinst Cags Deip, with trombone and vibraphone of Terry Owen and vocals guitar and xylophone from former The Cedar front man Neil Gay. Creating a deeply melodic and at times last night a spine tingling experience, drawing on the melodic tendencies of Icelandic bands like Sigur Ros and Mum or Scandinavian artists like Royksop or Mew emphasizing the whole symphonic atmosphere.

Their melodic kaleidoscopes perfectly suited the big church like building, the euphoric build ups to the subtle breakdowns. You could hear an absolute pin drop, every note felt like as if it had been placed with real precision with Neil’s vocal delivery drawing from the Jonsi’s vocal delivery. Even the Instrumental glitching of My Techno Heart Melts Your Emo Dribble fitted in with The whole fairy lights style aesthetics.